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2017-05-13

Taiwan not invited to WHO assembly, but negotiations go on AP 20170512

Taiwan not invited to WHO assembly, but negotiations
go on AP 20170512

The World Health Organization on Friday left open the possibility that Taiwan could still attend
its upcoming annual assembly, saying talks are continuing despite China's insistence
that a delegation from the island must be excluded for the first time since 2009.

For now, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan,
who is from Hong Kong, "is not in a position to issue an invitation for Taiwanese
observers to attend to the World Health Assembly" that starts May 22, said
Dr. Tim Armstrong, who heads the WHO department of governing bodies.

But Armstrong told reporters that "negotiations
are still ongoing," adding, "Anything is possible."

China has used its clout as one of five veto-wielding
members of the U.N. Security Council
to exclude Taiwan from the United Nations
and other world bodies that require sovereign status for membership. China insists that the island is part of its territory.

Armstrong said this year,
no "cross-strait understanding"
exists between Taiwan and China like those that allowed Taiwan to send delegates
since 2009, but that he had no details on why that was.
Other U.N. member states have been supportive
of Taiwan's attendance.

Officials in Beijing have said repeatedly over the
last week that no Taiwanese observer delegation will be allowed to attend the WHA
this year. They said that's because Taiwanese
President Tsai Ing-wen has declined to endorse Beijing's view that Taiwan and China
are part of a single Chinese nation.

Taiwan has been pushing for an invitation, and Tsai
tweeted Sunday that the self-governing democracy deserves inclusion.

Past contacts between Taiwanese experts and WHO will continue
even if Taiwan cannot attend, Armstrong said. He said a January visit
by Chinese PresidentXi Jinpingto the WHO headquarters in Geneva "had nothing
to do with" the issue of Taiwan's WHA attendance.

As part of longstanding U.N. policy, journalists who present
Taiwanese identity papers in their applications for accreditation for the assembly
will be denied access to the event, said U.N. Geneva spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci.